Without going outside, you may know the whole world.
Without looking through the window, you may see the ways of heaven.
The farther you go, the less you know.
Thus the sage knows without travelling;
He sees without looking;
He works without doing.
Tao Te Ching, 47
The personal message I have taken from this verse of the Tao is the understanding that whatever I am seeking outside myself, the real answer lies somewhere within. Tao often reminds us that the things we seek from the world can be found within us as well – if we are seeking love, the answer is to give love. If we are seeking wealth, the answer is to take care of what we have.
I have so often found when I want something new, the answer comes in taking care of the thing that I have that I seek to replace, or taking care of related things in my life. Either I find myself seeing something with new eyes, and realizing I don’t need a new one anyway, or I will take such good care of it that someone else comes along and wants it, and then I find I have the funds to replace it. Or I may find I have something else available to me that I can use in its place. I don’t know why this works, but it does.
The other answer is to give up looking, and suddenly, the thing seems to come to you. When we stop desperately seeking for something outside of ourselves to fulfill us, the universe can answer us. As long as we are so desperate in our search, we often overlook what is right in front of us.
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